PHONETICS

LESSON ONE: INTRODUCTION

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The term transcription refers to the process and “the methods of writing down speech sounds in a systematic
and consistent way” (Crystal 2008: 490). Each sound must be identified and written in an appropriate symbol.
Principally, there are two kinds of transcription: phonemic and phonetic transcription.

Phonemic transcription gives only a basic idea of the sounds, and is thus often termed as broad transcription.
It uses the 44 English phonemic symbols and does not show any phonetic details of the sounds. The symbols
are enclosed in slashes / /, e.g. /t/; /taɪp/.

Phonetic transcription has a high degree of accuracy and shows a lot of

articulatory and auditory details. It is often termed as the narrow transcription or transcription proper because
it aims to represent actual speech sounds in the narrowest sense and uses additional diacritics. The symbols
are therefore enclosed in square brackets [ ].

For example, [th] means that /t/ is aspirated, and [spiːd̥ ] means
that /d/ is a bit devoiced at final position.

Sound Classes: Vowels, Consonants, and Sonorants

Speech sounds are generally divided into two classes: vowels and consonants.
Vowels are produced with a comparatively open vocal tract for the airflow to pass unimpeded. As a result,
vowels are considered to be open sounds, whereas consonants are produced with a certain constriction in the
vocal tract. Roach (2009a) gives the following characterization of the sounds:
 Vowels are the class of sounds that are associated with the least obstruction to the flow of air during their
production.
 Consonants are the class of sounds that are associated with obstructed airflow through the vocal tract during
their production.

Vowels can also be distinguished from consonants as they display a different acoustic energy: vowels are
highly resonant and intense and have greater sonority than do consonants. Vowels also have the function to
be syllabic (a syllable can contain a minimum of one vowel), while consonants are units that function at the
margins of syllables, either singly or in clusters, and are optional (see Section 8).
Vowels typically involve the vibration of vocal folds, so they are voiced, while consonants split into voiced
and voiceless forms.

A special set of consonants that demonstrate reduced levels of obstructed airflow during their production are
called sonorants (sonants, semivowels).

According to Roach (2009):

 Sonorants are sounds that are voiced and do not cause sufficient obstruction to the airflow to prevent normal
voicing from continuing.

A list of the 20 vowel phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table (1).

Table (1): Vowel Phonemes

/ɪ/ as in sit /iː/ as in speak /eɪ/ as in may

/ʊ/ as in book /uː/ as in tool /aɪ/ as in kite

/ʌ/ as in cup /ɑː/ as in heart /ɔɪ/ as in toy

/ɒ/ as in box /ɔː/ as in door /ɪə/ as in near

/e/ as in bed /ɜː/ as in bird /eə/ as in dare

/æ/ as in cat /ʊə/ as in cure

/ə/ as in ago /əʊ/ as in cold

/aʊ/ as in mouth
A list of the 17 consonant phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table (2):

Table (2): Consonant phonemes

/p/ as in pipe /z/ as in zoo

/b/ as in be /θ/ as in think

/t/ as in time /ð/ as in that

/d/ as in do /ʃ/ as in sure

/k/ as in car /ʒ/ as in casual

/ɡ/ as in go /tʃ/ as in church

/f/ as in fine /dʒ/ as in gin

/v/ as in vet /h/ as in hat

/s/ as in sad

A list of the 7 sonorant phonemes in English with word examples is given in Table (3):

Table (3): Sonorant phonemes

/m/ as in map /n/ as in nose

/ŋ/ as in king /l/ as in love

/r/ as in red /j/ as in yacht

/w/ as in wet